WASHInGTon - TikTok CEo Shou Zi Chew faced relentless questioning from combative US lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle Thursday over the videosharing app’s alleged ties to China and its danger to teens. The 40-year-old Singaporean suffered unusually intense grilling by both Republicans and Democrats who fear that Beijing could subvert the site for spying, data harvesting and advancing a Chinese Communist Party agenda. The Harvard-educated former banker failed over more than five grueling hours to defuse an existential threat to TikTok as the app seeks to survive a White House ultimatum that it either split from its Chinese ownership or be banned in the United States.
Lawmakers from the House Energy and Commerce Committee afforded Chew no respite, frequently denying him opportunities to expand on his answers or tout the site’s huge global popularity with young people. “ByteDance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government and is a private company,” Chew told lawmakers in his opening remarks, referring to TikTok’s China-based parent company.
“We believe what’s needed are clear transparent rules that apply broadly to all tech companies -- ownership is not at the core of addressing these concerns,” Chew added. A ban would be an unprecedented act on a media company by the US government, cutting off the country’s 150 million monthly users from an app that has become a cultural powerhouse -- especially for young people.